At seven o’clock one Saturday evening in 1935, a group of Brisbane television enthusiasts handed Thomas Elliott a photograph of Janet Gaynor. Before half past seven, the picture was visible on Thomas Biddle’s receiving set in West End, several miles from Elliott’s equipment in the Old Windmill tower on Wickham Terrace. [1]
The Telegraph reported the experiment that September, in an account reproduced by the State Library of Queensland. Reception had some static and the photograph was not an ideal subject, but the actress remained recognisable. The newspaper called it a “picture by request”. This was a still photograph sent over the air, not Gaynor performing live from the tower. [1]
Where is this place?
Old Windmill Tower, Wickham Terrace, Spring Hill, Brisbane. This map locates the town or region, not a verified exact historic event site.
Elliott worked with radiologist Val McDowall, owner of experimental station 4CM. Their transmitter was assembled from materials that included cotton reels, Meccano parts and hand-cut aluminium discs, according to a 2019 account by Queensland Museum collection specialist Peter Volk. Its mechanical system used a spinning perforated disc and a light-sensitive cell to turn changing light into an electrical signal. A synchronised disc at the receiving end helped turn that signal back into a picture. [2]
Other demonstrations sent newspaper pages: a crossword, illustrated advertisements and news. The library’s account also records that enthusiasts were given published instructions for constructing receivers. Long before ordinary television services reached Queensland in 1959, this small audience was making its own equipment—and choosing something to watch. [1]
